Federal political reporter

Campbell Newman says the government's move to axe the Premier's Literary Awards was part of a promised cost-cutting drive.

UPDATED

Campbell Newman has scrapped the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, arguing the $244,000 saving was part of the Liberal National Party's promised cost-cutting drive.

The move was not specifically flagged before the state election and has prompted criticism on Twitter this afternoon, with people raising concern it was an ominous sign about the approach the LNP government would take on supporting the arts.

However, a spokeswoman for Mr Newman said the LNP had been “clear in communicating its plan to control government spending” while aiming to return the budget to surplus, revitalise frontline services and lower the cost of living.

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“As part of this plan, existing programs will continue to be reviewed to determine if the cost of these initiatives could contribute to this savings strategy,” she said in a written statement.

“In light of this, the Queensland government has decided not to proceed with the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards in 2012 which will save Queensland taxpayers $244,475, not including the cost of resourcing the awards.

“The government would like to acknowledge all the sponsors, judges, stakeholders, entrants and winners for their valued contribution to the program to date.”

The awards last year carried a range of cash prizes, with a $25,000 lure for the top fiction book, $20,000 for an emerging Queensland author, and $20,000 for an unpublished indigenous writer.

Brisbane author John Birmingham, who is also a blogger for brisbanetimes.com.au, said writers of “some pretty good works” had the support of this prize over the years and the decision to axe the initiative was disappointing.

However, he said he suspected Mr Newman would withdraw funding for a lot more programs.

“The politics of this are pretty simple and pretty brutal,” Birmingham told Fairfax Radio 4BC.

“He’s not going to lose many, if any, votes out of getting rid of this prize, and out of slashing the hell out of a lot of arts budgets.

“There’s quite a bit of state money [that] goes into supporting little theatre companies here and there, library programs for writers. People aren’t aware of how much of this stuff goes on and in total it’s not a huge amount of money. It’s really not.

“[However] it makes a big difference to the people who are getting it, obviously, but in terms of the state budget, there’s probably bigger tough cuts that he could make, but they’re much tougher to sell.”

Former premier Anna Bligh last year described the event as “one of the richest and most diverse literary awards programs in Australia and also one of the most anticipated events on the national literary calendar”.

It is not the first time the Premier’s Literary Awards have been in the Queensland LNP’s spotlight.

The LNP last year questioned the short-listing of Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks’s controversial book for the Non-Fiction Book Award, suggesting any prize money may have to be confiscated under proceeds of crime laws.

Ms Bligh hit back at critics of the independent panel’s decision, suggesting the LNP’s then arts spokesman Scott Emerson was trashing free speech and “reducing himself to a book burner”.

“The day that we see premiers intervening in things like literary awards and making themselves self-appointed judges of the artistic merit of those sorts of documents then Queensland takes a step backwards, and it will never happen while I am Premier,” Ms Bligh said in August.

Mr Hicks’s book did not end up winning. Instead, Associate Professor Mark McKenna’s biography of Manning Clarke claimed the $15,000 non-fiction prize.

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110 comments so far

Where else but Queensland?Clearly not looking to be the smart state anymore.

Commenter

Padrino

Location

Ellivarray

Date and time

April 03, 2012, 4:43PM

Given the extent of Christian fundamentalism that is influencing this Government, it will not surprise me if there are State sponsored book burnings next.

Commenter

David K

Location

Date and time

April 03, 2012, 4:54PM

This should pay for that extra LNP Minister and 4 LNP Assistant Ministers they just expanded the Cabinet by. Whilst everyone else tightens their belts, their snouts are in the trough.

Commenter

Sneaky Newman

Location

West End

Date and time

April 03, 2012, 6:18PM

In Newmans world, writing, bookstores, films and publishing are not real industries? These awards do not grow wealth and the skills of Queenslanders? Thsi is not about money it is about hatred of anyone to left of Ghengios Khan . .. But a casino for Clive, don't you worry that, Already approved.Goodonya Ashgrove.

Commenter

kfish

Location

Qld

Date and time

April 03, 2012, 6:45PM

You don't need to enter a competition to write (or read) a book. This one line item of waste is being unfairly singled out from a multitude of wasteful spending that was par for the course from the Labor government. Think how fewer library books Queensland can afford now with $90 billion of debt and a $4 billion deficit thanks to Labor.

Commenter

Gappian

Location

The Gap

Date and time

April 03, 2012, 7:52PM

Queensland:Can Do...some stuff... but can't read.Maybe this is why Idiocracy was on TV last week. It's a window into the future of QLD.

Commenter

Padrino

Location

Ellivarray

Date and time

April 03, 2012, 10:35PM

They warned me when I moved to Queensland but I didn't listen. "No, they're not like that at all" I said.

Commenter

Medea

Location

Date and time

April 03, 2012, 11:55PM

Gappian, you're correct one doesn't need to enter a competition to write a book, but awards such as this provide often much-needed financial support to emerging local writers, and also assist in marketing and promotion, which sells more books.

Commenter

Cassandra P

Location

Newmarket

Date and time

April 04, 2012, 9:50AM

"Where else but Queensland?"Try New South Wales, where Premier Barry O'Farrell set up a committee to look into the Premier's Literary and History Awards chaired by well known litterateur Gerard Henderson. In the past the announcement of the awards has been on the first night of the Sydney Writers Festival. if there are to be any awards this year they almost certainly won't be made as early as that.

Commenter

shawjonathan

Location

Date and time

April 04, 2012, 1:43PM

Will the LNP front bench forgo their salaries? That will save a lot more than a measley quarter-million.